Changing Education in Action Cambodia: The Embattled Teacher

Privatization of public education in Cambodia manifests primarily in the form of private supplementary tutoring, which augments mainstream schooling in terms of curricular content and teacher salary. Private tutoring gives Chenda additional time to cover the national curriculum by focusing on Lomhat. In this view, privatization is 'hidden' because it is not considered part of the mainstream school system. Students, parents, and teachers, meanwhile, do not recognize private tutoring as different from, or separate to mainstream schooling, because they believe it is a necessary part of the education system. In Chenda's opinion, the social inequalities from private tutoring arise because of the structural defects of the public education system, not because of unethical teachers. Most teachers do not participate in educational corruption. The additional learning time provided by private tutoring increases the quality of education for students and gives a living wage to teachers.